Sweeping robot and cleaning mechanism thereof

ABSTRACT

The disclosure discloses a cleaning robot and a cleaning mechanism thereof. The cleaning robot comprises a shell and a cleaning mechanism. The cleaning mechanism comprises a flexible roller, a motor for driving the flexible roller to rotate, a water squeezing roller, a roller brush, and a sewage collection tank. The sewage collection tank is located above the flexible roller. The water squeezing roller is disposed adjacent to the sewage collection tank. The center of the water squeezing roller is disposed in parallel with the center of the flexible roller, and the surface of the water squeezing roller is pressed against the surface of the flexible roller. The roller brush contacts the flexible roller. When the flexible roller rotates, the water squeezing roller presses sewage in the flexible roller into the sewage collection tank. The cleaning mechanism of the disclosure has strong squeezing capability, can reduce energy consumption, and reduce noise.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This invention relates to the technical field of cleaning equipment, inparticular to a cleaning robot and a cleaning mechanism thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

The sweeping robot is an automatic cleaning device that reduces thepressure on people to clean. The sweeping robot generally adopts thestructure of a roller brush, a roller, a sewage collection tank, and aclean water tank. The clean water is supplied from one end of the sewagecollection tank to the roller, and sewage squeezed from the roller isabsorbed into the sewage tank through negative pressure. The sewage isgenerally squeezed by providing a projection at the bottom of the sewagecollection tank, which is pressed against the surface of the roller tosqueeze the sewage from the roller. Due to the sliding friction betweenthe roller and the projection, the load on the motor of the rollerincreases, thereby consuming more energy and reducing the battery lifeof the sweeping robot. The small depth of depression of the projectioninto the roller limits the ability to squeeze the sewage. Moreover, thefriction between the sewage collection tank and the roller is relativelyloud.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

Based on this, it is necessary for the present disclosure to provide acleaning mechanism that has high squeezing capability, can reduce energyconsumption, and reduces noise.

The present disclosure also provides a cleaning robot.

In order to achieve the object of the present disclosure, the presentdisclosure adopts the following technical solutions:

A cleaning mechanism includes a flexible roller, a motor that drives theflexible roller to rotate, a water squeezing roller, a roller brush, anda sewage collection tank. The sewage collection tank is located abovethe flexible roller, and the water squeezing roller is disposed adjacentto the sewage collection tank. A center of the water squeezing roller isdisposed in parallel with a center of the flexible roller, and a surfaceof the water squeezing roller is pressed against a surface of theflexible roller. The roller brush contacts the flexible roller. When theflexible roller rotates, the water squeezing roller presses sewage outof the flexible roller and into the sewage collection tank.

The above cleaning mechanism adopts a method of squeezing sewage by awater squeezing roller. Due to rolling friction between the flexibleroller and the water squeezing roller instead of sliding friction, theresistance to the flexible roller is reduced, thereby reducing theenergy consumption in the squeezing process. The noise due to rollingfriction is also reduced accordingly compared to the noise due tosliding friction. The water squeezing roller can be installed at apressing depth according to what is needed and is not restricted by thesewage collection tank. As the depth of the water squeezing roller isincreased, and the squeezing capability is enhanced.

In some embodiments, the water squeezing roller is made of a hardmaterial.

In some embodiments, the water squeezing roller presses the flexibleroller to form a depressed portion on the surface of the flexibleroller. About one-fourth to one-half of the water squeezing roller islocated in the depressed portion.

In some embodiments, one third of the water squeezing roller is locatedin the depressed portion.

In some embodiments, the number of water squeezing rollers is one, andthe water squeezing roller and the roller brush are respectively locatedat two sides of the sewage collection tank.

In some embodiments, the number of water squeezing rollers is two andare respectively disposed on both sides of the sewage collection tank.

In some embodiments, the cleaning mechanism further includes a garbagecollection box. The garbage collection box is located at one side of theflexible roller and directly under the roller brush. One side of thegarbage collection box abuts the flexible roller.

In some embodiments, the cleaning mechanism further includes a scraperdisposed in an arc shape and having one end connected to a side of thegarbage collection box abutting the flexible roller.

In some embodiments, the cleaning mechanism further includes a loadbearing wheel that is located between the garbage collection box and thescraper and abuts the garbage collection box and the scraper,respectively.

It is also a need of the present disclosure to provide a cleaning robotthat includes the cleaning mechanism described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly explain the embodiments of the presentdisclosure or the technical solutions relative to the prior art, thedrawings to be used in the description of the embodiments or the priorart will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings in thefollowing description are only some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. For those skilled in the art, drawings of other embodimentscan also be obtained based on these drawings without any creative work.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of the overall structure of the cleaningmechanism according to a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of the structure of the cleaning mechanism ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the overall structure of the cleaningmechanism according to another preferred embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a cleaning mechanism according to anotherpreferred embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the structure of the cleaning mechanism ofFIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a cleaning mechanism according to anotherpreferred embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of a cleaning mechanism according to anotherpreferred embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

To facilitate an understanding of the present disclosure, the presentdisclosure will be described more fully hereinafter with reference tothe accompanying drawings. The preferred embodiments of the disclosureare given in the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosuremay be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to theembodiments described herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete. It should be notedthat when an element is referred to as being “fixed” to another element,it may be directly on the other element or there may also be anintervening element. When an element is considered to be “connected” toanother element, it can be directly connected to the other element orthere may be an intervening center element. Unless otherwise defined,all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning ascommonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which thisdisclosure belongs. The terminology used in the description of thepresent disclosure herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to limit the present disclosure.

Embodiment 1

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a cleaning robot according to apreferred embodiment of the present disclosure includes a shell and acleaning mechanism 100 located in the shell. The cleaning mechanism 100includes a flexible roller 10 and a sewage collection tank 20 locatedabove the flexible roller 10. A water squeezing roller 30 is located onone side of the flexible roller 10, a roller brush 40 is located on theside of the flexible roller 10 and contacts the flexible roller 10, anda garbage collection box 50 is located on the side of the flexibleroller 10 and under the roller brush 40. A motor 13 drives the flexibleroller 10 to rotate, and the flexible roller 10 can remove dirt on theground when rotated. When the flexible roller 10 rotates, the watersqueezing roller 30 presses sewage in the flexible roller 10 into thesewage collection tank 20 to collect the sewage. The roller brush 40 isdriven by a roller brush motor to remove the dirt on the flexible roller10, and the dirt falls into the garbage collection box 50 below theroller brush 40 to remove the dirt.

The rotating shaft of the flexible roller 10 is made of a hard material,and a peripheral portion is made of a flexible material, for example, asponge, a cotton cloth or the like, so that water is easily absorbed andthe cleaning function is easily achieved. The flexible roller 10 isdriven to rotate by a motor, and the motor is mounted inside the shell.

The sewage collection tank 20 is located above the flexible roller 10for collecting the sewage discharged from the flexible roller 10 and forguiding clean water onto the flexible roller 10 to supply the flexibleroller 10 with clean water. The bottom of the sewage collection tank 20is provided with a plurality of small holes for discharging clean waterand receiving sewage. In this embodiment, there is a small gap betweenthe sewage collection tank 20 and the flexible roller 10, whichfacilitates the flow of sewage into the sewage collection tank 20 andfacilitates the rotation of the flexible roller 10.

The water squeezing roller 30 has a cylindrical shape, and the watersqueezing roller 30 is disposed close to the sewage collection tank 20to press the sewage into the sewage collection tank 20. The surface ofthe water squeezing roller 30 is pressed against the surface of theflexible roller 10. In the present embodiment, there is a gap betweenthe water squeezing roller 30 and the side surface of the sewagecollection tank 20. The water squeezing roller 30 presses the flexibleroller 10 such that the surface of the flexible roller 10 forms adepressed portion 12, and one-fourth to one-half of the water squeezingroller 30 is located in the depressed portion 12. This will not affectthe normal rotation of the flexible roller 10, but enables the sewage tobe squeezed out of the flexible roller 10. Of course, the flexibleroller 10 can also be rotated when the portion of the water squeezingroller 30 located in the depressed portion 12 is larger. In the presentembodiment, one-third of the water squeezing roller 30 is located in thedepressed portion 12, which is the optimum press down size.

It can be understood that the number of water squeezing rollers 30 maybe one or more, and a plurality of water squeezing rollers 30 may beused without affecting the normal operation of the cleaning mechanism100. In the present embodiment, the number of water squeezing rollers 30is one, and the water squeezing roller 30 and the roller brush 40 arerespectively located on two sides of the sewage collection tank 20.

The water squeezing roller 30 is made of a hard material to facilitatethe pressing of the flexible roller 10. For example, the water squeezingroller 30 is made of a wood material, a plastic material, a metalmaterial, or the like, and the above objects can be achieved. The watersqueezing roller 30 is mounted in the shell, for example, connected tothe shell, or is mounted in the shell through a mounting bracket nearthe sewage collection tank 20.

The garbage collection box 50 is located to one side of the flexibleroller 10 and directly under the roller brush 40. One side of thegarbage collection box 50 abuts the flexible roller 10 so that thegarbage being brushed by the flexible roller 10 can fall into thegarbage collection box 50. The garbage collection box 50 is U-shaped,but the corners are arranged in a square shape.

Further, a scraper 51 is provided on the side of the garbage collectionbox 50 close to the flexible roller 10 for scraping the garbage onto theflexible roller 10. A load bearing wheel 60 is disposed between thegarbage collection box 50 and the scraper 51 for increasing theload-bearing capacity of the garbage collection box 50. The scraper 51is disposed in an arc shape and has one end connected to one side of thegarbage collection box 50 abutting the flexible roller 10.

Embodiment 2

Referring to FIG. 3, the cleaning mechanism 200 of the presentembodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the number ofwater squeezing rollers 30 is two, which are respectively disposed ontwo sides of the sewage collection tank 20. That is, one of the watersqueezing rollers 30 is located on the left side of the sewagecollection tank 20 and is disposed near the sewage collection tank 20,and another water squeezing roller 30 is located on the right side ofthe sewage collection tank 20 and is disposed near the sewage collectiontank 20. The roller brush 40 is disposed below the water squeezingroller 30 and is disposed adjacent to the water squeezing roller 30 toreduce the volume of the entire cleaning mechanism 200.

Embodiment 3

The cleaning mechanism of this embodiment differs from the firstembodiment in that the number of water squeezing rollers 30 is three,which are respectively disposed on two sides of the sewage collectiontank 20. That is, one of the water squeezing rollers 30 is located onthe left side of the sewage collection tank 20 and is disposed near thesewage collection tank 20, and another water squeezing roller 30 islocated on the right side of the sewage collection tank 20 and isdisposed near the sewage collection tank 20. The roller brush 40 isdisposed below the water squeezing roller 30 and is disposed near thewater squeezing roller 30 to reduce the volume of the entire cleaningmechanism 100. The last water squeezing roller 30 is disposed below thewater squeezing roller 30 on the left side of the sewage collection tank20 and can also act to squeeze sewage.

Embodiment 4

Referring to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the cleaning mechanism 300 of thepresent embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that thecleaning mechanism 300 further includes a water tank 70 that is used forcontaining the clean water for the cleaning flexible roller 10 and thesewage generated by the flexible roller 10. The water tank 70 is aclosed structure.

The cleaning mechanism 300 includes a water tank body 71 and apartitioning member 72 disposed in the water tank body 71. Thepartitioning member 72 divides the water tank body 71 into a firstchamber 73 and a second chamber 74. The first chamber 73 communicateswith the first pipe 75. The second chamber 74 communicates with thesecond pipe 76. The first chamber 73 is for containing clean water orsewage, and the second chamber 74 is for containing sewage or cleanwater. The partitioning member 72 can be moved along the inner wall ofthe water tank body 71 by external force or water pressure to adjust thecapacity of the first chamber 73 and the second chamber 74 making thewater tank body 71 flexible during use. An external force, such as forceof a user, directly toggles the partitioning member 72. The first pipe75 and the second pipe 76 communicate with the sewage collection tank20, respectively.

When the first chamber 73 is used to hold clean water, the secondchamber 74 is used to hold sewage. When the first chamber 73 is used tohold sewage, the second chamber 74 is used to hold clean water. In thisembodiment, the first chamber 73 is for holding clean water, and thesecond chamber 74 is for holding sewage. That is, the first pipe 75 is aclean water pipe, the first chamber 73 is a clean water cavity, thesecond pipe 76 is a sewage pipe, and the second chamber 74 is a sewagecavity. The first pipe 75 and the second pipe 76 are both connected tothe sewage collection tank 20. The first pipe 75 provides clean water tothe sewage collection tank 20, and the second pipe 76 receives thesewage in the sewage collection tank 20.

In this embodiment, the partition member 72 includes a piston 720 and aguiding member 721. The piston 720 abuts against an inner wall of thewater tank body 71. The guiding member 721 is movably connected to thewater tank body 71. The piston 720 is moved along the inner wall of thewater tank body 71 due to water pressure to adjust the capacity of thefirst chamber 73 and the second chamber 74. For example, when the volumeof clean water entering the water tank body 71 is greater than thevolume of the sewage entering the water tank body 71, the piston 720 issubjected to the water pressure of the clean water and moves toward thesewage chamber. In contrast, when the volume of the sewage entering thewater tank body 71 is larger than the volume of clean water entering thewater tank body 71, the piston 720 is subjected to the water pressure ofthe sewage and moves toward the clean water chamber.

In this embodiment, the side wall of the water tank body 71 defines aguide hole 77. The guiding member 721 is sealingly mounted in the guidehole 77 to guide the piston 720 to move. The guiding member 721 issealingly mounted in the guide hole 77 to make sure that water leakagecan be prevented. For example, a sealing rubber ring is disposed on theperiphery of the guide hole 77. Preferably, the guide hole 77 isdisposed at a position near the top of the water tank body 71, so thatwater can be prevented from leaking out of the water tank body 71through the guide hole 77. In other embodiments, the guide hole 77 isformed at other positions of the water tank body 71.

In this embodiment, the guiding member 721 is movably connected to theleft side or the right side of the water tank body 71. That is, theguide hole 77 is formed on the left side or the right side of the watertank body 71. The first pipe 75 communicates with the right side of thewater tank body 71, and the second pipe 76 communicates with the leftside of the water tank body 71.

Further, a clean water pump 78 is disposed on the first pipe 75 toprovide power for the clean water to be pumped into the sewagecollection tank 20. The second chamber 74 is connected to a vacuum pump79 through a pipe. The vacuum pump 79 can increase the negative pressureof the second chamber 74 to pull the sewage in the sewage collectiontank 20 into the second chamber 74.

Further, a water level sensor is disposed on the inner wall of thesecond chamber 74, and an alarm is disposed on the cleaning robot. Thealarm is electrically connected to the water level sensor. When thesecond chamber 74 is full of sewage, the water level sensor senses thewater level signal, and sends the water level signal to the alarm. Thealarm triggers to remind the user to clean the sewage tank.

Embodiment 5

Referring to FIG. 6, the cleaning mechanism 400 of the presentembodiment is different from the fourth embodiment in that the guidingmember 721 is movably connected to the top or bottom of the water tankbody 71. That is, the guide hole 77 is opened at the top portion of thewater tank body 71 or the bottom portion. The first pipe 75 communicateswith the lower portion of the water tank body 71, and the second pipe 76communicates with the upper portion of the water tank body 71.

Embodiment 6

Referring to FIG. 7, the cleaning mechanism 500 of the presentembodiment is different from the fourth embodiment in that the partitionmember 72 includes a leaf 722 and a rotating shaft 723. The leaf 722includes a first partition 724 and a second partition 725. The firstpartition 724 and the second partition 725 are respectively pivotallyconnected to the rotating shaft 723 to respectively rotate along therotating shaft 723 due to water pressure. The first partition 724 andthe second partition 725 respectively abut the water tank body 71, andthe rotating shaft 723 is connected to the water tank body 71, so thatthe first partition 724 and the second partition 725 form a firstchamber 73 and a second chamber 74. When the water pressure on one sideis large, the first partition 724 and the second partition 725 move inopposite directions to adjust the capacity of the first chamber 73 andthe second chamber 74.

The above-mentioned embodiments are merely illustrative of severalembodiments of the present invention, and the description thereof ismore specific and detailed, but is not to be construed as limiting thescope of the invention. It should be noted that a number of variationsand modifications may be made by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore, thescope of the invention should be determined by the appended claims.

1. A cleaning mechanism, comprising: a flexible roller; a motor thatdrives the flexible roller to rotate; a water squeezing roller; a rollerbrush; and a sewage collection tank, wherein: the sewage collection tankis located above the flexible roller, the water squeezing roller isdisposed adjacent to the sewage collection tank, a center of the watersqueezing roller is disposed in parallel with a center of the flexibleroller, a surface of the water squeezing roller is pressed against asurface of the flexible roller, the roller brush contacts the flexibleroller, and when the flexible roller rotates, the water squeezing rollerpresses out sewage in the flexible roller into the sewage collectiontank.
 2. The cleaning mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the watersqueezing roller is made of a hard material.
 3. The cleaning mechanismaccording to claim 1, wherein: the water squeezing roller presses theflexible roller to form a depressed portion on the surface of theflexible roller, the water squeezing roller is located in the depressedportion, and one-fourth to one-half of the water squeezing roller islocated in the depressed portion.
 4. The cleaning mechanism according toclaim 3, wherein one-third of the water squeezing roller is located inthe depressed portion.
 5. The cleaning mechanism according to claim 1,wherein the water squeezing roller and the roller brush are respectivelylocated at opposite sides of the sewage collection tank.
 6. The cleaningmechanism according to claim 1, comprising: a second water squeezingroller, wherein the water squeezing roller and the second watersqueezing roller are respectively located at opposite sides of thesewage collection tank.
 7. The cleaning mechanism according to claim 1,comprising: a garbage collection box, wherein: the garbage collectionbox is located on one side of the flexible roller and located directlybelow the roller brush, and a side of the garbage collection box abutsthe flexible roller.
 8. The cleaning mechanism according to claim 7,comprising: a scraper, wherein the scraper is disposed in an arc shapeand has one end connected to the side of the garbage collection boxabutting the flexible roller.
 9. The cleaning mechanism according toclaim 8, comprising: a load bearing wheel, wherein the load bearingwheel is located between the garbage collection box and the scraper andabuts the garbage collection box and the scraper.
 10. A sweeping robotcomprising the cleaning mechanism of claim
 1. 11. The cleaning mechanismaccording to claim 2, wherein: the water squeezing roller presses theflexible roller to form a depressed portion on the surface of theflexible roller, the water squeezing roller is located in the depressedportion.
 12. The cleaning mechanism according to claim 1, comprising: asecond water squeezing roller, wherein the roller brush contacts thesecond water squeezing roller.
 13. The cleaning mechanism according toclaim 12, wherein, in a direction of rotation of the flexible roller,the sewage collection tank is located between the second water squeezingroller and the water squeezing roller.
 14. The cleaning mechanismaccording to claim 12, wherein, in a direction of rotation of theflexible roller, the second water squeezing roller is located betweenthe roller brush and the second water squeezing roller.
 15. The cleaningmechanism according to claim 1, comprising: a garbage collection box,wherein the garbage collection box is located adjacent the flexibleroller and located below the roller brush.
 16. A cleaning mechanism,comprising: a flexible roller; a water squeezing roller; a roller brush;and a sewage collection tank, wherein: the sewage collection tank islocated above the flexible roller, the water squeezing roller isdisposed after the sewage collection tank in a direction of rotation ofthe flexible roller, a surface of the water squeezing roller is pressedagainst a surface of the flexible roller, and the roller brush contactsthe flexible roller.
 17. The cleaning mechanism according to claim 16,wherein when the flexible roller rotates, the water squeezing rollerpresses out sewage in the flexible roller into the sewage collectiontank.
 18. The cleaning mechanism according to claim 16, comprising: asecond water squeezing roller, wherein the roller brush contacts thesecond water squeezing roller.
 19. The cleaning mechanism according toclaim 18, wherein, in a direction of rotation of the flexible roller,the sewage collection tank is located between the second water squeezingroller and the water squeezing roller.
 20. A cleaning mechanism,comprising: a flexible roller; a first water squeezing roller; a secondwater squeezing roller; a roller brush; and a sewage collection tank,wherein: the sewage collection tank is located above the flexibleroller, the roller brush contacts the second water squeezing roller, andin a direction of rotation of the flexible roller, the sewage collectiontank is located between the second water squeezing roller and the firstwater squeezing roller.